Cruz, Dewhurst head to runoff

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst failed to capture the 50 percent necessary to win the Republican nomination Tuesday, forcing him into an unpredictable nine week run-off campaign with former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite who garnered the blessing of conservative luminaries such as Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum and Sen. Jim DeMint.

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With 95 percent of the vote in, Dewhurst was leading the second-place Cruz, 45 percent to 34 percent. Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert trailed in third place with 13 percent and former football star and ESPN commentator Craig James barely managed 4 percent of the vote.

Dewhurst, the front-running former CIA agent worth an estimated $200 million, was widely expected to end the night as the leading vote-getter so the result is a win in itself for the insurgent Cruz, who was badly outspent and suffered from far lower name recognition in the nation’s second-most populous state.

The outcome marks the third victory for anti-establishment GOP Senate candidates in as many weeks. Earlier this month, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock upended 36-year Sen. Dick Lugar in Indiana, and state Sen. Deb Fischer upset two better-known candidates in Nebraska.

Dewhurst, who raised more than $13 million, blanketed the state with television and radio ads, including biting attacks against Cruz that accused him of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants and providing legal counsel to a company with ties to the Chinese government.

The Texas Conservatives Fund, a pro-Dewhurst super PAC run by the former campaign manager of Rick Perry’s presidential bid, also worked to poke holes in Cruz’s conservative credentials, airing a spot that fingered Cruz’s law firm for “contributing over $200,000 to elect Barack Obama.”

But early on, Cruz won over the conservative commentariat.

As early as June 2011, conservative commentator and writer George Will penned an entire column on Cruz, dubbing him “a candidate as good as it gets.”

Other conservatives took note.

The Club for Growth devoted an estimated $2.5 million to the race, FreedomWorks assisted with grass-roots efforts on the ground and Palin recorded robocalls for Cruz in the closing week.

“This is a major victory for conservatives,” DeMint tweeted Tuesday night. “Dewhurst failed to get a majority because he failed to fight for conservative principles. His false attacks backfired. Now it’s time for freedom-loving Americans everywhere to help @TedCruz win the 7/31 primary run-off.”

“David Dewhurst must now face true conservative Ted Cruz one on one, and that’s David Dewhurst’s worst nightmare,” said Club For Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement.

Dewhurst remains the favorite in the run-off. Backed by Gov. Rick Perry and much of his political operation, he will still hold a sizable financial advantage and will be able to tap his own deep pockets at a moment’s notice.

“Now, more than ever, we must work to send a proven conservative leader like David Dewhurst to Washington, where he can put the Texas approach to work to overhaul Washington,” Perry said in a statement.

But Texas now becomes the latest state where grass-roots conservative activists will assemble to try to send another message to establishment forces. Cruz swiftly called for a series of five debates with Dewhurst.

Fortunately for national Republicans, there’s little risk to a messy, divisive summer shooting war in the Lone Star State.

The Democrats’ highly touted recruit, retired Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, quit his bid in December after anemic fundraising and little enthusiasm.

Former state Rep. Paul Sadler was leading a four-way fight for the Democratic nomination but also fell short of the 50 percent threshold necessary to advance to the general election without a run-off.